Me, You and the Cat

[Sam Prince]

Sam often wondered to himself why he didn't spend more time in the Hogwarts Gardens, especially in these ripe Spring days were the flowers were at their fullest. The garden was quite impressive this year, there were some flowers that Sam hadn't even seen before, he probably would have though he had paid some sort of attention in a Herbology class. Instead of sitting on the bench Sam opted for a spot on the grass, allowing the gentle hum of the bees and the soft songs of the birds to fully consume him, but just for a moment - he had work to do. That was always the case these days, he never got to really enjoy anything, except for of course Quidditch but even then he often felt that he should be focusing on his studies while he was out flying, seeing as he hadn't done so since his very first year. Sam pulled out a piece of parchment and wrote his name on the top of it while Yoda - Sam's siamese cat - settled down beside him, his tail gentle sweeping against his leg. Yoda was an excellent purchase for Sam all those years ago, not once did Sam really feel alone when Yoda was with him. Sam stroked his small head before focusing his attention back on the work at hand.

With a loud tear Sam tore the parchment out from his notepad roughly and crumbled it into a small ball. A whole hour he had spent here and what had he to show for his work? A page full of doodles - robots specifically. It was a rather strange habit of his to draw robots, he wasn't exactly sure wheter there was any meaning behind it but it was something he always did. His lips parted and he let out a soft sigh, behind his handsome face it was clear that Sam was tired. Beyond tired, he was exhausted. "Hey...eh..Gyrffindor?" He called out wearily as he squinted at her through the sunlight. The small girl looked alarmed as Sam motioned for her to come over. "Find Taylor Mercer for me." The girl continued to look both alarmed and confused and Sam doubted she would do it for him, so he added a more serious tone, "Prefect orders." He held in the laughter he so wanted to release but as the girl scurried off to find the Gryffindor prefect, Sam just let out a small chuckle. He didn't know if Taylor was actually doing something productive with her time but Sam really wanted to hang out with her now. It wasn't that he had a lot to say, he really just wanted to be with a friend.

 

[Taylor Mercer]

Taylor glared at the ceiling above her head. Merlin she was bored. Lying on her bed Taylor rummaged through her brain and tried to think of something - anything - that she could do to keep herself entertained. However, everything that came to mind sounded unappealing. Letting out a long frustrated sigh, Taylor sat up on her bed and stared at the wall instead. Getting up she changed outfits as something to do. She changed out of her lazing around hoody and put on a green jumper. Taylor assessed her appearance in the mirror and unconsciously touched the Gryffindor necklace fastened around her neck.

Before any memories even had a chance to come to the front of Taylor's mind, her dormitory door was flung open by a flustered first year. The girl stumbled over an apology for barging in and then proceeded to tell the Gryffindor prefect that a boy in the gardens wanted her. "Any idea who it was?" Taylor asked, her face scrunched up in a confused expression. The girl shook her head, "all he said was that it was prefect orders for me to get you." Taylor thanked the girl as she flew out of the room and wanted to jump in the air with glee that she now had something to do! If the boy was a prefect that meant it was most likely Austin, Sam or Aeon. Although most likely one of the first two. Either one of them would be a delight to spend the day with. Checking her hair one last time in the mirror, Taylor tried not to bolt for the gardens, but it was difficult not to get excited over the distraction and the opportunity to spend time with one of her favourite people.

Reaching the gardens, Taylor's hand flew to her Gryffindor necklace again, memories trying to flood her mind, but instead of worrying about them, she smiled softly. She regretted a lot that went on in this place, particularly the day she hit Hoshi, but all of it was in the past. She had Austin now and she felt the happiest she had in a long time.

Without much more thought, Taylor caught sight of a particular Hufflepuff. Her soft smile grew to a large grin and she stalked over to where Sam was. Creeping up behind him she jumped and grabbed her best friend's shoulders from behind. "Hey, you!" She said loudly and cheerfully.

 

[Sam Prince]

Time passed slowly and it seemed the more Sam anticipated the arrival of his friend, the minutes became longer. He allowed Yoda to crawl under the arch made from his upright knees, shading himself, Sam pressumed. For a cat that so often believed it was a lion it had a strange weakness to the sun. Like Krypotonite to Superman.. or magnetic powers to Wolverine, Sam's thoughts trailed off as he began to reminisce on the times where he would spend hours pouring over his grandfathers old muggle comic books. He was quite a comic nerd when he was a kid and he guessed it could have only been a good thing that he parted from them. If he hadn't, he probably wouldn't have any friends to anticipate the arrival of.

That was the thing with Sam, he obsessed over things far too much, doing things half heartedly was something Sam didn't do. In one sense this was all but a good thing, for example his huge obession with Quidditch, which was just a game, but it had gotten him far. Every day that he obessed over it, he became closer to his dream. Sam plucked a few long strands of grass out of the ground not really sure wheter to pack up and leave or to wait a little longer to see if Taylor was contacted. However, he didn't have to wait long to mull over his decision of staying, once he felt a pair of hands on his shoulders. Sam looked up to see the smiley face of Taylor, not only had he not seen her in so long, he hadn't seen her this happy in so long.

Sam stood up quickly, acknowledging the angry purr's from his cat with just a quick - but angry - "Oh shut it." Sam then turned around to Taylor, all expressions of anger or annoyance disappeared to be replaced with a smile that mirrored her own. "Hey!" He beamed finally, before wrapping his arms around her into a tight hug. He was so glad she had gotten the message, it had been too long since the pair had properly hung out. Sam would definitely make sure he repaid the first year, wheter that was allowing her to break the rules once in a while, so be it. Although, remembering her face would have been an important factor in that repayment - pity Sam had a poor memory.

 

[Taylor Mercer]

For a second Taylor thought Sam was telling her to shut it and raised her hand to smack Sam on the arm playfully, but her eyes caught sight of a cat that had been resting underneath Sam's legs and instead wrapped her raised arm as well as her other arm around Sam, returning his hug. She squished him perhaps a little too hard, but whenever she met up with Sam it always felt like it had been too long since they had seen each other, whether it had only been a couple of weeks or a few months.

Releasing the Hufflepuff from a tight bear hug, Taylor stepped back and beamed at him. "And how have you been?" She said brightly, curious as to whether there was anything special going on in Sam's life. Taylor knew that she had a lot to tell Sam herself, so she was eager to hear what Sam had been up to. She realised she went to Sam for almost everything. He knew most of her secrets and Taylor felt completely comfortable around him. Sure, there were some things that she knew Sam just wouldn't get because he was a boy, but Taylor loved the relationship her and her best friend shared.

 

[Sam Prince]

After being released from the overly tight hug, Sam shoved his hands deeply into the pockets of his tracksuit and studied Taylor carefully. She was definitely happier than she was in the recent months, that was completely obvious. Even for Sam who seemed to have a disability of reading one's body language. But Taylor seemed to be glowing with this happiness and Sam could only wonder what had changed in the Gryffidnor's life to make her this happy. Whatever it was, Sam was very thankful for it.

Sam shrugged his shoulders and replied in his usual way, "I've been good." Sam didn't really know what to say, there was definitely some good changes that occured as of recent. But Sam didn't even think they were secure enough to be reasons. He still didn't know if Riley liked him back, he had yet to tell her in fact. So, maybe that good change wasn't a change at all seeing as he hadn't done anything about it yet. "What about you though? You seem different?" Sam asked, his head tilted slightly as he smiled at Taylor, "A good different though.."

 

[Taylor Mercer]

Taylor's smile was still present on her face, even when she scrunched up her features at Sam's answer. "Come on, I need more details than that," she said in a playful tone. When Sam said she was different, Taylor nodded. She felt different. A good different too. After the many months of feeling as though she held a heavy weight on her shoulders, she finally felt free. Care-free and genuinely happy. She had a baby brother, her break-up with Scorpius had long since stopped playing over and over in her mind - he had even left the school so Taylor never had to be reminded - and she had Austin. After her whole life had gone up in flames, it was finally extinguished and her life was starting to grow back stronger than before.

"Things are a lot better with me. I even have a new boyfriend." She said in an over-dramatic immature tone. She hadn't officially told any of her friends about Austin yet and found herself excited to share the news.

 

[Sam Prince]

Sam let out a quick laugh and folded his arms across his broad chest, "That is all the details!" He said playfully before turning around and sitting on the grass next to his cat. It really was all he could say, anything else would be a story about Riley and he knew he would sound simply pathetic if he started up about her. After all the years of being with Toni and not being with Toni, Sam still hadn't the courage to admit to a girl that he liked her. One would think that after a bit of experience things would get easier, but for Sam, things seemed to get harder and now he was a lot more cautious of the fact that if he told Riley how he felt, it would put their friendship at great risk.

However Sam thought no more on the subject as Taylor told him she had a boyfriend. His initial reaction was of course happiness for his friend, but as it sunk in he got a certain overprotectiveness that ones older brother might feel. Sam looked up at Taylor, "Really? That's great!" Sam said hurriedly and just as quickly added, "Who is it?" He of course managed to let a certain lightheartedness escape into his tone of voice, to show that he was certainly happy for his friend. But after her heartbreak over Scorpius, Sam had a right to be a little protective of her. He had a right to know who it was that was going out with Taylor. Who it was that even came close to deserving her.

 

[Taylor Mercer]

Taylor let out an playfully exasperated sigh that said 'I don't believe you' and fell down on the grass next to her friend. Surely there was something exciting going on in Sam's life, but Taylor knew that in time Sam would share the news if he wanted to and if he didn't, who was Taylor to demand him to tell her? Taylor knew she was strange when it came to details of her life. If it was good news, she would share it around extremely openly, but when it came to bad news, she hated to complain to others and rarely opened up, even to her friends. It took her many long months to confess how she was feeling to Sam after her split with Scorpius and even though she knew that talking about her problems would make her feel better, Taylor still kept things bottled inside until the eventually burst out, usually in the worst kinds of ways, eg. violently towards Hoshi and Jenna.

Taylor beamed at Sam when he showed an interest, she was almost too keen to share her news with someone. "Austin Devearux. The Ravenclaw Prefect in our year." Taylor said with a smile, a tiny wave of concern washing through her, wondering if Sam would approve. Although it didn't really matter if he did or not, Taylor still wanted her best friend to like her choice of boyfriend. "We've gotten really close recently. He asked me out on the Quidditch Pitch." She explained, a small blush tinting her face. She decided against going into more details, knowing that Sam would find it all a bit too mushy. Instead she turned to Sam and nudged him in the ribs. "What about you? Anyone you fancy at the moment?" If Taylor had moved on from Scorp, maybe Sam had moved on from Toni. The two best friends hadn't been very lucky in the relationship department over the years, had they?

 

[Sam Prince]

Sam knew Austin, he was in plenty of his classes since their first year but having only spoken to the boy on rare occasions didn't give Sam the right to judge wheter he was good enough for his best friend. He would be shocked to find someone that would even come close to deserving Taylor because she was perfect, she was smart and funny and beautiful and above all else, she was a great friend. She was the best. But Sam never desired Taylor in that way and he presumed that likewise, she never felt anything romantic for him. He used to be puzzled about this, about why he was never attracted to her like that, but recently he found an answer; they were too good of friends. Too good of friends to allow any of that romantic stuff get in the way and it was then that Sam realised the comforting truth, that they would always be friends.

"He's alright, I guess." His fingers fumbled with a few strands of grass before looking up at Taylor, a playfuly glint in his deep blue eyes and a kind smile on his face. "I'm really happy for you though." That, was the nothing but the truth, if Taylor deemed this boy to be good enough, so be it. Sam was happy for whatever it was that made his friend happy. It was safe to say that Sam was expecting her question, he shrugged even before she had even finished asking. Focusing his attention on his cat, Sam laughed awkwardly, "Maybe..?" He glanced at Taylor before looking back at Yoda and dragging him up onto his chest as he lay flat on the grass. "But I don't think she likes me that way." There were never any signs shown by Riley that proved she might like him like that, none of which he picked up anyways. "So don't get too excited." He added quickly, looking up at Taylor with his signature smile knowing well that this would be something that she would plague him about.